A new computational method facilitates the dense placement of objects inside a rigid container.

California blackworms tangle themselves up by the thousands, then separate in a split second. Their trick may inspire the design of self-detangling materials and fibers.

The system’s simple repeating elements can assemble into swimming forms ranging from eel-like to wing-shaped.

A new algorithm for automatic assembly of products is accurate, efficient, and generalizable to a wide range of complex real-world assemblies.

Researchers make progress toward groups of robots that could build almost anything, including buildings, vehicles, and even bigger robots.

Researchers created a method for magnetically programming materials to make cubes that are very picky about what they connect with, enabling more-scalable self-assembly.

Microscopic pipes, two million times smaller than an ant, could one day funnel drugs to individual human cells without fear of leaking.

Their swirling, clustering behavior might someday inform the design of self-assembling robotic swarms.

Creating satellites that could travel flat and transform themselves into a dish shape would make space exploration easier, say researchers.

Self-assembly of Kevlar-inspired molecules leads to structures with robust properties, offering new materials for solid-state applications.